Annoying Neighbors Are Gone

The annoying neighbors with kids are gone!! We had heard through the grape vine that someone had bought the house and were trying to evict them. They must have succeeded! They left a ton of crap in the house because it was all pulled to the curb! Yea, peace and quiet until the new neighbors move in! Please be nice people!!!

Sammy the Bunny Stalker

An Open Letter to All Cute Fluffy Bunnies:

Please stay out of our yard! Sammy will get you! If he comes near you, please don't make that high pitched squeaking , it will only make him think you are a squeaky toy! Have you seen what he does to squeaky toys? It's not pretty... I know our green grass and red warm mulch is very appealing, but for your own safety please stay away! Remember what happened to that bunny 2 months ago? How he lay lifeless in the garage? It traumatized me as much as it did you! Sammy doesn't understand how fragile you are, so please, for your own safety-stay away!

Love,

Woman

Garage Organization Again!

Man is organizing the garage again! This will be only the fourth time in three years! I helped him a little bit last night, but mainly watched. He is always searching for more room for his motorcycle. Honey- the garage is only so big...

Getting ready for Thanksgiving

We are spending the Holiday at the in-laws on the beach. Don't get too excited, we probably won't even step on the beach! Remember Man and I are mountain people! It will still be beautiful to look at from their patio! I am in charge of dessert-big surprise! I will be making pumpkin pie and apple pie. Man loves my pumpkin pie and my Father-in-law loves apple pie. This year for the apple pie I am doing a crumb topping drizzled with homemade carmel sauce. I hope it turns out great! I am having a large slice of the apple pie-just to warn everyone... I love the holidays, but I am not a big fan of hosting the festivities. You know my cleaning issues? So if someone else volunteers to host, I am all up for that! Of course I will help out as much as possible! I will also step up to the plate is no one else will host. This week Man and I took Friday off, so we have a four day weekend. We are excited to sleep in 4 days in a row!!! The gym is open on Thanksgiving-I know- roll your eyes-and I am going to do a special 1 1/2 hour spin class in the morning and then yoga. All this before 11am, so the whole day is not at the gym! I want to burn the calories before I eat them! I will also participate in the traditional Black Friday shopping fun! I have a list and a game plan all ready. I love the vibe on Black Friday and the crowds don't bother me in the least. I won't head out until close to lunch time, I'm not an early bird shopper. Besides, I will go to the gym Friday morning for Power Pump and the dreaded stair climber. We will also check out the Bonita Springs Rotary Club Christmas Tree tent to see if they have trees in yet! Maybe I will have a picture on my Christmas tree posted by Monday! It should be a fun weekend! Have a great Thanksgiving and happy shopping!

Yummy Lunch

I just meet Man after the gym for lunch at PF Changs and it was good! I had tofu lettuce wraps and Ahi tuna. Great job PF Changs for having delicious and healthy food! Now it's time to walk it off with the dogs outside. It's a gorgeous day! Happy Sunday!

Christmas Card

These are the photos for our Christmas card! The photo with all of us is the largest, then the rest are smaller. It's not the best, but it is nearly impossibly to get 3 dogs to look in the same direction at once! I really like the picture of Sammy swimming as a pup and Cooper walking with him. It shows what a good big brother Cooper is! The picture of just Man & I is from Beaver Creek Colorado, looking cool in our shades! I hope everyone likes it because I put a good 3 hours into it!

Catching Up

It's been awhile! Life has been a little overwhelming lately. Here's what's been happening:

-Relative is leaving us! We knew it was coming, we just got a feeling about it. He was calling home a lot more, deleting the history on the computer after he was done, and just generally being more quite. I am disappointed in how it has come about, it seems sneaky. Man is pretty mad, he feels that Relative used us for a year long vacation. Maybe he did, lesson learned on our part. If he wants to go home then he can go home, just be honest! I do not think he gave 100% into getting a full time job. There was no calling or visiting potential jobs. He did everything over the computer-very impersonal when you want to get a job in this economy. He only worked 3 days a week and on his days off he slept till noon, played video games, and watched TV. Last week we had a feeling he was going to leave, so we asked him. He said he was thinking about it. I made it perfectly clear that he needed to go on his own terms, not by his parents. I wanted him to understand that he needs to work towards a career and going back home will limit that. We are from a College town, so job opportunities are limited. He was planning on going home for Christmas and I told him when he got back that he had to work 40 hours a week. This meant speaking to he employer to get more hours or getting a part-time job. Five days later he tells us he's leaving! Imagine that... I don't want to be mad at him since he is family, but I am a little bit. I have said my peace and gave my opinion,wanted or not, I need to let it go. Relative will make his own decisions, good or bad, and I hope this was a learning experience for him. Good Luck Relative! We will miss you! Now I get my home back! (kidding!)

-Cooper is down to 101 lbs.!! He has lost 6 pounds since June! Good job Cooper and us-for portion control and more walks. The walks don't hurt Man and I either!

-We got our boat repaired and ready to sell, finally. We haven't used it in 2 years. It needed several things repaired totalling $1200.00-ouch! One of the repairs was $600 and we decided not to fix it, just to cut the price down. Man told the repair person not to fix that item because we didn't have the extra money right now! Well, the guy fixed it!! He and Man kind of yelled at each other a little bit. We didn't have the money to pay for it and the guy wouldn't give us our boat without payment. No boat-no selling it!! I was pissed to say the least! The guy ended up taking a couple hundred off and we paid and got our boat back. I think it was very sneaky of the repairman and it put a big dent in our savings.

-Money has been tight! It has been tight since August. We are trying to pay down some debit, so we limit our "play money" each month. Once we are on a limited budget, things start coming up that need taken care of! It never ends! Our automatic drive way gate broke, the boat repair, Man needed work pants, vet appointments, the printer broke, the wireless mouse broke, and TV broke. When will it end!!! Someone please buy our boat!!

-My Mom is not going to visit for Christmas. She is afraid to fly by herself. A pretty lame reason to turn down a chance to see your daughter (who was buying the plane ticket!). Whatever! My family is very selfish. Do I sound bitter??

-I haven't been doing too much cooking lately. I mean I am cooking dinner, but nothing blog worthy. The holidays will inspire me, I hope!

-I am on the quest for the perfect Christmas Card. I think I have found it at www.snapfish.com. It is a 4x8, 4 picture green snowflake design. I wanted one that I could use more than one picture. You see, as much as my family disappoints me, I still feel the need to keep the lines of communication open. I want them to see how we are doing. When family is concerned, it is ALWAYS better to be the bigger person. I was thinking of doing a holiday letter too, but I don't want to come across as bragging. Does anyone else do Holiday letters??

-I am very late starting my Christmas shopping this year due to the money situation. Hopefully I can start next weekend. It is going to be very scaled back this year. Man and I do gifts for each other because it's fun and we love Christmas. I have a very short Christmas list this year. There is just nothing I really want or need. Of course, Man had a long expensive list!

-We are going to the in-laws for Thanksgiving. Yeah-no major cooking for me! I will bring desserts, Pumpkin Pie and Apple Pie, yummy! I also got a four day weekend for Thanksgiving! Extra sleep here I come!

-I have been challenged at the gym lately. The weights seem heavier and the cardio longer!! I think I am not getting enough sleep. Tonight is the stair climber and power pump (weight lifting class). Wish me luck!

Black Magic Cake

This is the recipe from my disaster cake last week. I am happy to report that I made it again on Sunday, but in a 9x13 cake pan for Man's secretary. No layers-no chance of disaster. Enjoy this rich and moist chocolate cake.

Black Magic Cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2 cups Flour
2 cups Sugar
3/4 cup Cocoa
2 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Salt
2 Eggs
1 cup brewed Black Coffee
1 cup Milk
1/2 cup Vegetable Oil
2 tsp. Vanilla

Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add wet ingredients and mix well. The batter will be runny, so don't worry!! Pour into a greased 9x13 cake pan or 2 8-9inch rounds. Bake for 35 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.

The best chocolate icing:

1 stick of softened Butter
3 cups Powdered Sugar
2/3 cup Cocoa
1 tsp. Vanilla
pinch of Salt
1/3 cup Milk

Mix all ingredients except the milk. Add milk a little at a time until you get the consistency you like. Mix until smooth. I usually don't use all the milk because I like a slightly stiffer icing. It is easier to work with and won't slide off your cake. This recipe is plenty for a layer cake.

Man's Issue that Weights Heavy on our Minds

Man needs to lose weight, about 80 pounds. This would be great for me too. I want to lose about 20 lbs., I want to be at my high school weight. The advantage for me is that when Man decides to do something, he jumps in and does it. It would be a big motivator for me if he finally decides to lose the weight. Having a partner to work with is a great motivator. Someone to keep me from chocolate and cereal carb overload. I just need him to commit, just to decide to do it. I need Man's will power to pull me along. Come on Man, you can do it!!! Do it for US... We can lose a combined 100 lbs. Maybe reward ourselves with a ski getaway to Colorado... Am I tempting you???

Cake Disaster

Man's secretary has been requesting a cake. I made her one for her Birthday last year and she has been asking for another once since then. Last night after the gym I was feeling energetic, so I baked her one. It was my Mom's recipe for Black Magic Cake. It's a chocolate cake with brewed coffee in it. I'm guessing the coffee is the black magic because this cake is very moist and delicious. I also made chocolate frosting! I started to assemble the cake and as I flipped the top layer on to the bottom layer IT SPLIT IN HALF!! It was so moist it just split!! No problem, I'll just push it together and the frosting will hold it in place. WRONG! I started frosting it and the top layer began to slide off! Homemade icing is not as forming as store icing, so the whole "holding it together" idea was shot to heck! I managed to get it all frosted and looking okay. As I began to clean up one half of the top began to slide off and the frosting on top was sinking into the crevasse that has now formed on top. I tried to just slice the whole cake in half and give her a half of a great cake, but it just looked to sad. I pride myself on my baked goods. As I held the sliding cake with 2 knives I called for Relative to get a spatula. I ended up slicing a quarter of the cake off on to a plate. The rest is holding together okay for now. It tastes great, but looks sad. I will try again on Sunday! Not one of my finer kitchen moments...

Recipe to come later....

Cody in Crisis

Cody got stuck under our bed last night. It wasn't pretty... I was getting ready to climb in bed and heard a scraping noise. I looked under the bed and Cody had wedged himself under and couldn't figure out how to get out. If I touched him he yelped bloody murder. We have the sleep number bed that is adjustable, so we raised the end of the bed hoping he would walk out. No such luck!! We pushed a box under the bed at him hoping to guide him out, he just screeched like he was dying. It was horrible! He wasn't hurt, just scared because he can't see well. Man got impatient because he was already asleep. Man lift up the bed frame with one arm and pulls out Cody with the other. It took about 3 seconds and he was out. I have never heard a dog cry like that, it was heartbreaking. Poor Cody bear! He has recovered and it doing just fine.

My Boys are Famous!!!!

Big news!! I submitted Cody and Zack's 2008 Halloween picture (see below) to the newspaper website for Halloween pet photos and it was chosen to be in the newspaper! My boys made the front page of the community section on Wednesday!!